Projected Knicks Starting Lineup After Missing Out on Big Free Agents is Better Than You Think

2019 Free Agency was supposed to be a time of joy for the New York Knicks.

A month ago, New Yorkers believed Zion Williamson, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving were going to lead the franchise back to NBA greatness, but the Brooklyn Nets and some ping-pong balls had other ideas. Now, their 2019-2020 starting lineup looks nothing like they had hoped:

2019 NBA Draft selection RJ Barrett is expected to start from the get-go, alongside the former ACC Rookie of the Year Dennis Smith Jr. to make up New York's backcourt. With DeAndre Jordan also headed to Brooklyn, that means NBA All-Rookie Second Team honoree Mitchell Robinson will be the starting center going forward. Kevin Knox will get time at small forward, while Julius Randle mans the 4. For those visual learners, the starting lineup should look a little something like this:

Left scrambling after nearly every big-name free agent came off the board, the Knicks agreed to deals with several serviceable role players in Reggie Bullock, Elfrid Payton, Bobby Portis, and Taj Gibson, before the market settled.

While this may seem like it should go in the loss column, each deal that these players signed is for two years and includes a team option, allowing the organization to stay flexible moving forward. They also landed Randle, who averaged career-highs in points (21.4), blocks (0.6), steals (0.7), free throw percentage ( 73.1), and 3-point percentage (34.4).

While this isn't the Knicks team that New Yorkers have hoped for, things could have been a lot worse (believe it or not). They landed a 20+ point scorer and the No. 3 overall pick so far this offseason, and those are hardly things to be upset about.